1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to an apparatus and method to easily change an appearance of a graphical user interface (GUI), and more particularly to an apparatus and method to configure and operate a widget using GUI-setting data, in order to efficiently customize the widget.
2. Description of the Related Art
Users generally interact with software via a graphical user interface (GUI). As GUIs become more complicated, the demand for an intuitive GUI has been increasing. Generally, “widgets” are included in a GUI library and are used to configure the GUI of an application. The term “widget” refers to an operable user interface (UI) component that a user interacts with to perform operations on a GUI. Common examples of widgets include a check-box, radio buttons, a text field, a pull-down menu, a hyperlink, a tab, a spin box, a slider, a scroll bar, buttons, and various other types of functional components displayed on a GUI.
A widget includes data and instructions to execute processes to manipulate the data. A widget used in a GUI is configured with graphical data and/or functions to process the data.
Conventionally, the GUI functions are designed separately from the original functions of the application. A conventional method of operating a GUI is to change the look of the GUI by changing the view of the widget. However, a problem with this conventional art is that the screen configuration and the operation of the GUI have to be designed separately. Accordingly, when a user designs the screen configuration of a GUI and the operation of the GUI using the conventional art, the process is inefficient. Also, in order to design the screen configuration and the operation of the GUI, an authoring tool is conventionally used. However, it is inefficient and difficult to separately design the screen configuration and the operation of the GUI using the authoring tool.